MARY KAY LETOURNEAU had an affair with her former sixth grade student, Vili Fualaau, in 1997. She went to jail twice – but now they’ve been married for 10 years!
Mary was a 34-year-old, married teacher in Seattle, who already had four children of her own when she hooked up with Vili, a mere 13-year-old.
It was the teacher- student underage sex scandal heard around the world as media coverage exploded!
But after serving time behind bars now once but twice for her forbidden love Mary, now 53 and Vili, 31, are on the cusp of their 10th wedding anniversary.
The two daughters they have together are now teenagers — older than Vili was when they first did more than conjugate verbs.
Mary and Villi with their two daughters are sitting down with Barbara Walters in a no-holds-barred “American Scandal” 20/20 interview that’s making headlines anew.
“If it wasn't strong enough in the beginning, it wouldn't have carried through those years,” Mary told Walters.
It all began when she was Vili’s teacher and had bonded over his gift for art.
By the school let out for summer, they were in the midst of an affair.
"The incident was a late night that it didn't stop with a kiss," Mary said. "And I thought that it would and it didn't…
"I loved him very much, and I kind of thought, 'why can't it ever just be a kiss?'"
But Mary was soon pregnant and when her husband discovered a love letter, law enforcement authorities were notified and Mary was promptly arrested.
Mary pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree child rape and was sentenced to 89 months in prison.
She was paroled but ordered to stay away from Villi – Mary didn’t. And for violating parole she was quickly back behind bars. But she had enough time to get pregnant by Villi again. In Oct 1998 she gave birth to her 2nd child with her former student-lover.
Mary was finally released from prison in August 2004, and the couple married 10 months later. Vili was 21 years old at the time.
"It was a huge relief to actually get married… (after) just going through all those years and then having so many questions and them not being answered," Vili said.
Today, Mary is still registered as a sex-offender and is working as a legal assistant while Vili toils at a home and garden center, working nights as a DJ.
Their daughters Audrey and Georgia are currently high-school students.
But their dad has laid down the law about them sleeping with their teachers.
“I don't support younger kids being married or having a relationship with someone older,” Vili said. “I don't support it.”
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